Overview
- U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell denied a preliminary injunction sought by athletes challenging the NCAA’s four-seasons-in-five-years eligibility limit.
- The court said plaintiffs failed to show that procompetitive benefits could be achieved through substantially less restrictive means or to quantify broader market effects of a fifth season.
- Referencing roster caps and revenue-sharing limits from the House settlement, the ruling found that added eligibility would reallocate roster spots and compensation rather than expand overall opportunities.
- The decision renders Vanderbilt’s Langston Patterson, Wisconsin’s Nathanial Vakos, Lance Mason and Nick Levy, and Nebraska’s Kevin Gallic ineligible for the 2026 season after four years of competition without a redshirt.
- Campbell recognized NCAA eligibility rules as subject to antitrust scrutiny in the NIL era but declined to alter them on the current record, as the case proceeds alongside separate litigation that previously granted Diego Pavia another season and as the NCAA notes it has won most recent eligibility injunctions.